John Kennedy Q & A

An incredibly young Celtic side beat Motherwell 3-1 in last night’s u-20 league clash at Fir Park.

International call-ups meant that John Kennedy was only able to name five substitutes but rather than drag in older-age players the bench consisted of 15 and 16-year-olds.

In terms of experience Patrik Twardzik and Bahrudin Atajic were on the fringes of last season’s u-19 side while goalkeeper Leonardo Fasan and right-back Darnell Fisher enjoyed good runs in the side.

Atajic and Darnell Fisher scored in the first half for Celtic. Craig Moore pulled a goal back from the home side midway through the second half but a devastating strike from Denny Johnstone coming in off the wing sealed the points with ten minutes left to play.

After last night’s match I caught up with John Kenedy who was delighted by the way the new look side have started the u-20 league.

Video Celts: This team are answering all of your questions?

John Kennedy: I think so, the thing with young players is that you want consistency. In the second half against St Mirren we played well but this morning Lewis Kidd fell ill and all of a sudden the team got even younger, he’s only an u-18 and one of our more experienced players.

That just shows that the young ones that came in did great. The experienced boys like Darnell, Bahrudin and Patrik gave them great confidence by leading by example. They all enjoyed the game and that showed in their play

VC: Did it take them 15 minutes to set the tempo tonight?

JK: I thought that we started pretty well, we expected Motherwell to start on the front foot, they had experience and would be physically stronger than us. We emphasised that if we showed hunger and desire to go out and play, get on the ball pass and move then our football would come though.

I thought that we moved the ball really well, we pressed them well and scored some great goals.

VC: Bahrudin put a free kick over the bar before scoring from a similar popsition, were you a bit concerned when he stepped up to take it again?

JK: Not really, the reason that Bahrudin is on the free kicks is because he’s so good at them. Technically he’s excellent, he can put a corner kick on a sixpence, wherever you want it he’ll put it. His first free kick went over the bar but he slotted the second one home nicely.

VC: Second goal was a strikers finish from Darnell?

JK: First of all we were up our end of the pitch defending then we got on the counter, that’s pleasing, there was a real variation in our play. We took it out the back at times, played when we had to then could get on the break with a wee bit of pace. Darnell at full back gets up well, takes a great first touch then finishes like a striker

VC: Denny Johnstone’s goal must have been most pleasing for you?

JK: First half at times he wasn’t probably involved in the game as much as he wanted, to be fair right wing position is new to him. He’s not played a great deal there but in the second half he got much more involved. His ball retention was excellent then he showed his strikers instinct with one that hit the post then a great individuial goal.

VC: It will take a lot of doing to match last season, without tempting fate you’ve had a very impressive start to the season.

JK: It’s been a really good start but we never look too far ahead because this game can be cruel at times. The first two games have been good results, the performances are improving and we’re delighted with tonight’s peformance. We’ll look to the next game and concentrate on that. We have a young squad and need them to keep playing consistently and show the drive to play like they did in every game.

Not every game will pan out like this but it’s important that they learn quickly and have the knowledge that there will be times when they are up against it, you have to ride that, be compact, work hard to get a foothold in the game.

VC: Did the players know that Neil Lennon was watching?

JK: They did, hopefully they’ll have caught his eye. There’ll be quite a few in the squad that the gaffer won’t know because a few are in their first season up from the 17s, the manager won’t have seen a great deal from them, it’s a good start and one or two of them will have made an impression.

The gaffer likes to go and watch his football and hopefully this competition gives him more opportunities to come and watch us.

VC: The way the team played does it allow you to take a little bit of a back seat and let them get on with things?

JK: Not really! I don’t think that ever happens, no matter the result you need to stay on top of things. Sometimes they need a wee kick up the backside but others it’s just a quick bit of information passed onto the pitch.

To be fair to them I thought that they dealt with most of the problems themselves. Between myself and Tommy (McIntyre) on the sidelines there wasn’t too many times we had to come out and change things.

At times we pressed really well, at other times we stayed in our shape and forced Motherwell to play long which was into our hands with Stuart (Findlay) and Paddy (McNally) at the back, we’re very pleased with how we performed.